Lines of Valor
Lines of Valor is an 1965 World War I epic by John Sturges, starring Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood, and Sidney Poitier. The film is loosely based on the exploits of several operational groups within the Allied Intelligence Executive, most notably Operational Group Q and Operational Group S. At the time of the film's release, very little about AIX's operations in World War I was known outside of rumor and speculation, making historical accuracy impossible. Instead, the film ranks among the classics of late 1960s Amerkio-Usonian action cinema, and is perhaps best known for its soundtrack featuring Eartha Kitt's "Farewell, Baby, Farewell," composed originally for the film. Plot Summary In the fall of 1918, Cpt. Henry "Hurricane" Wheeler (McQueen) is transferred from his Usonian unit to the Allied Intelligence Executive, where he is tasked with the impossible mission of leading a ragtag band of misfits from various Allied nations behind enemy lines to destroy a German communication station. Wheeler initially distrusts most of the other members of his squadron, and has a particularly difficult relationship with his Fazeur second-in-command, Lt. Homer Nelson (Poitier). Wheeler's disregard for authority and the rules of engagement, as well as his willingness to jump into the line of fire, put him at odds with the straightlaced Lt. Nelson. Ultimately, however, Nelson comes to value Wheeler's courage even as Wheeler praises Nelson's conscientiousness. Wheeler also resolves conflicts with the squadron's neurotic signalman, Leo Blanck (Marcello Mastroianni) and French field agent Pierre Dulac (Robert Vaughn). Dulac also becomes Wheeler's rival for the love of a nurse at a nearby British field hospital, Pamela Fox (Wood). Previously engaged to the aristocratic Dulac, Fox's relationship with Wheeler grows closer when the two of them are trapped in a bombed-out church after a reconnaissance mission gone wrong. When AIX informs Wheeler's squadron that their rescue mission requires a female agent, Fox volunteers against Dulac's wishes and at Wheeler's suggestion. This leads to her capture by the Germans. After Pamela Fox's capture, Dulac challenges Wheeler's authority over the squadron and threatens to go to AIX's British leadership and convince them to remove Wheeler from command. Homer Nelson comes to Wheeler's defense, claiming that his loose-cannon methods are crucial to the squadron's chances with such a risky mission. When Dulac goes to signal headquarters anyway, Signalman Blanck breaks his own equipment in an act of support for Wheeler. The squadron locates Pamela Fox imprisoned at a castle in the French Alps, used by the German High Command. Wheeler, Nelson, and Dulac infiltrate the castle and find Fox. Surrounded by Germans and faced with a choice between immediate escape along a dangerous route to Spain, and a safer but less permanent stay in an Alpine safe house, Dulac insists that Fox come with him to Spain and Wheeler and Nelson escape to the safe house to divert their pursuit. In a climactic scene, Wheeler tries to convince Fox to let Nelson and Dulac mount the diversion and come with him to the safe house, where he intends to marry her and escape from "not just the war, but the whole world." Fox refuses, and when pressed, tells Wheeler that all is not what it seems and that she could never marry him. Heartbroken, Wheeler agrees to Dulac's plan and lets Fox go. Nelson and Wheeler successfully distract their German pursuers using tactics Nelson learned from the AIX handbook, which Wheeler had previously expressed disdain for. Wheeler admits the handbook's usefulness, and Nelson agrees in turn to break the rules and watch Fox and Dulac's escape from the forest surrounding the castle, so that Wheeler can be sure Fox is safe. Nelson and Wheeler watch, concealed, as Dulac and a curiously struggling Fox make it to the edge of the castle's precipitous moat. At the last minute, they are spotted by a German patrol, but when the patrol sees Dulac make a certain sign, he lets them past. Wheeler and Nelson realize that Dulac is a double agent, working for the Germans and responsible for the squadron's many previous failures. As they cross the moat, Fox stops and looks out at the forest to where Wheeler and Nelson are hidden, then takes Dulac by the hand and pulls him off the moat with her to their death. Political Context Lines of Valor has often been interpreted by critics as a work of thinly-veiled Ameriko-Usonian cooperatist anti-continental propaganda, based on the themes of collaboration and betrayal explored in the relationships between the film's multinational characters. The relationship between "Hurricane" Wheeler and Homer Nelson came under fire almost immediately after the film's release because of its perceived indulgence of stereotypes of Fazeur traditionalism as opposed to a uniquely Usonian spirit of inventive originality. When asked in 1966 about his decision to take on the role of Nelson, Sidney Poitier explained that as a Fazeur actor he found the story's themes of cooperation inspiring and that any perceived stereotypes in the character were unintentional. He has since described the role as a "product of its time" and expressed his frustration with the slow political development Ameriko-Usonian film industry in the heyday of his career. The character of Pierre Dulac, and his romance with Pamela Fox, who in the film is implied to be of mixed Anglo-Usonian background, has also been criticized as a thinly-veiled message of anti-continental sentiment in a moment when tensions between Usonia and the British Isles were high. Pierre Dulac's betrayal, and Fox's subsequent heroic suicide, has been interpreted as an attack on European influence in the independence struggles of the British Isles, which at the time were gaining strength against Usonian interests traditionally aligned with the defunct British monarchy. Historical Influences Though the actual plot of Lines of Valor is, to the best knowledge of historians of AIX, entirely fictional, several of the characters are loosely based on actual AIX operatives during the First World War. Henry "Hurricane" Wheeler was based on an amalgam of Usonian and Anglo-Usonian AIX operatives, most notably Hannibal Hindenberg-Weller and Roman "Right-Hand" Różaniecki. Pamela Fox was most likely based on Juno Boyd or her co-operative Annette Mireau. The basis for Pierre Dulac is undoubtedly Radovan Savatier, whose expulsion from AIX in 1922 led most experts to believe he was a traitor until mass declassification in 2009 confirmed that his expulsion was on personal and not political lines. Other members of both Operational Group Q and S served as inspirations for minor members of the film's fictional squadron. Though information about AIX during the First World War is far from complete, there is no record whatsoever of a double suicide by AIX agents, or indeed any romantic relationships or disputes between members of the organization's most famous groups.